Kenya Airways has announced the appointed Chief Executive of Jambo Jet; Willem Alexander Hondius. Jambo Jet will be a low cost addition to the Kenya Airways Group which will take over from the domestic (Kenya) and regional routes within East Africa.

The Group Managing director of Kenya Airways had this to say when making the announcement: ‘I am pleased to announce the appointment of Willem Hondius as Chief Executive Officer of Jambo Jet Ltd, reporting into the Jambo Jet Board which is chaired by Mr. Ayisi Makatiani. Willem brings to the airline a wealth of experience in the aviation industry especially in the low-cost airline area and will be instrumental in steering the operations of the new carrier. There is still a lot of work to be done before operations start and this appointment is a major milestone in that process’.

Willem has been the general Manager of KLM Royal Dutch Airline for Eastern Africa based in Nairobi since 2012 and has served as the Project Manager for Jambo Jet Limited between 2005 and 2012; he was executive vice-president and chief commercial officer of Transavia Airlines a wholly-owned subsidiary of KLM prior to joining KLM.

MANGO DOUBLE ZANZIBAR FLIGHTS

Mango, one of South Africa’s leading low cost carriers will be flying twice from Zanzibar’s; Zanzibar International Airport to Johannesburg’s; O.R. Tambo International Airport twice weekly from 21st September 2013.

This latest development is great news for the Zanzibar tourism sector, which has of late been wrestling with some negative publicity and has been striving hard to promote holidays to the island, where a number of new resorts have been opened and are going to be opened soon, adding more capacity to the market.

It has been heard that Mango has been granted traffic rights to three scheduled flights a week between South Africa and Tanzania, and plans are already afoot, subject to satisfactory load-factors for two flights, to add a third one over the coming end of 2013, for at least December and January.

The same source also confirmed that Mango was granted additional traffic rights to commence at some point in the future to Kilimanjaro, though at this moment in time no concrete plans could be ascertained to begin operations anytime soon.

21 RHINOS RELOCATED

Kenya Wildlife Service successfully managed to get 10 of the treasure animals from the Lake Nakuru National Park while another 11 were taken from the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, both of which are thought to have come up their carrying capacity for this species of Rhinos.

The move was financed by World Wide Fund for Nature – WWF, The US Fish and Wildlife Department and the Zurich Zoo.

The newly established sanctuary is optimistic to establish a wider geographic spread of the eastern black rhinos which will allow for ‘surplus animals’ to be transferred there, now that infrastructure exists, from other conservancies, sanctuaries and parks, where the numbers may have grown too large to sustain the populations. Kenya has since the 1980’s relied on fenced sanctuaries for Rhinos to ensure their protection and worked together with such privately owned conservancies like Ol Pejeta, Solio and Lewa Downs, and the establishment of new areas dedicated to conservation of crucially endangered wildlife like the Borana Sanctuary is a pointer that the concept has worked successfully.

A week earlier the senior staff of WWF also visited Uganda’s Rhino Sanctuary at Ziwa after having meetings with Uganda Wildlife Authority for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities. Ziwa has over the years shown sustained success in their breeding programme with an almost unprecedented rate of reproduction by their adult females and has for some time now eyed the option of being considered for a regional relocation of the eastern black species to Ziwa where a carrying capacity of over 60 rhinos, both eastern black and southern white, has been established.

WATCH THE RESCUE OF A 5 DAYS OLD BABY ELEPHANT

The Kenya Wildlife Service and Amboseli Trust for Elephants rescued a five day old elephant calf back in November 2012 and the video is just too cute not to share. The five day old elephant was stuck in a big muddy pond where there used to be a swamp. The mother and family were close by and the team was able to re-unite them back together. The Amboseli Trust for Elephants works to aid and understand the future of over 1 500 elephants in the Amboseli National Park and is the longest study of wild elephants in the world.

NEW CAMP OPENING SOON: LAKE EYASI TENTED CAMP

Tanganyika Wilderness Camps were pleased to announce the opening of their new camp, Lake Eyasi Tented Camp. Lake Eyasi is a salt lake situated west of Arusha, close to the little town of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

The new camp is located in one of the prime areas of Eyasi, with beautiful views to the lake. In the heart of the land inhabited by the Hadzabe (Hadza) and Datoga tribes. The Hadzabe tribe is also known as Bushmen. Some 300 – 400 Hadza live as hunter-gatherers, much as their ancestors have for thousands or even tens of thousands of years; they are the last full-time hunter-gatherers in Africa.

The Hadza are not closely genetically related to any other people. While traditionally classified with the Khosian languages, primarily because it has clicks.

They are hunters and use bows and arrows to kill what they are going to eat. They make their bows and arrows from a native willow tree which grows in the bush where they live, the arrows have metal tips which they get from the Datoga tribe.

The Datoga people are farmers and craftsmen. They are more sedentary and live in groups in mud huts. They grow their own food, keep cattle and the men craft earrings, bracelets, arrow heads, etc. from metal which they melt on an open fire, keeping it alight using hand bellows.

The camp overlooks the lake and covers an area of 20 acres. It consists of 10 tents with en suite facilities and a mess tent for meals. The camp opens October 1st, 2013.

RAISING OF COSTA CANCORDIA

Costa Cancordia stands upright on 16th September 2013

The wrecked Costa Concordia was successfully lifted on September 16th 2013 free from the rocks, 20 months after it capsized. The ship has been moved on to a platform constructed to the sea bed. Never before has such an enormous cruise ship been righted and efforts to bring back the ship to an upright position are expected to last up to 12 hours.

A multinational team of 500 salvage engineers has been on the island for most of the past year stabilizing the ship wreck and carrying out preparations for the start of the lifting operation.

The ship carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew, sank when rocks tore into its hull after it came too close to shore at the start of a Mediterranean cruise.